Last Updated on April 28, 2023 by PowersToTravel
I knew that by staying in Longyearbyen I was limiting my chances to see a Polar Bear. While they are known to wander into the inhabited areas during the winter, the likelihood of seeing one in June was very low. That is why I chose to go out every day on the water to the bays of Isfjorden, the fjord on which Longyearbyen is located.
I also chose the Better Moments operator. They had a trip called “Catch of the Day” in which they depart late afternoon to whatever location has experienced the most interesting activity that day.
My choices turned out to be the best choices.
The evening of the polar bear started like this: A group of us waited in the Radisson Blu parking lot. We waited and wondered. The van was late. All of our outings had been on time until this moment and we wondered. The van pulled up, and the clipboard coordinator popped out. “Powers!”
“Yes!” we responded, and hopped into the small van. Our name was always the first called because I had booked eight months earlier. The van filled up, and yet we had another hotel to stop at. The man in the front seat next to the driver announced that he was a guide, working for the company, but that he was not actually the guide assigned to the trip, that the owner had allowed him to go that night. He looked like a man with a secret and a grin a mile wide.
We arrived at the next hotel, and two were waiting there. Those in the van looked around, wondering where these people would be put. One fit in, and then the second person had quite a discussion with the clipboard manager. It appears he had mis-entered the date when he had made the reservation, keying in MM/DD/YY instead of DD/MM/YY as was appropriate in Europe. “We can fit you,” said the operator. We looked around, wondering, where? Almost simultaneously, we directed the stray guide, who wasn’t even paying for the trip, to go sit in the floor of the ‘way-back’ and allow the guest to sit in the front seat.
Five minutes later we were out at the docks, ready to board the boat. It was at that moment that our stray guide announced, “The reason I am here is because a polar bear was spotted on a glacier earlier today! We are going out to find him!”
At the dock we found the boat owner and official guide, with a collection of crocs for our feet. I looked sadly at them, thinking, “Oh, dear, I hope I don’t trip and fall in.” Being diabetic I am seldom out and about without good, secure shoes. I’m not the barefoot wanderer, and I had never worn a pair of crocs, but they looked a bit unstable. I am not entirely pleased with the Scandinavian tradition of taking your shoes off in the house. I much prefer to clean my shoes at the door, and wear them around, especially when not in my own home and where unexpected chair legs, slick tiles, etc, await me. I also seem to have very sensitive feet and do not like to walk on hard surfaces without comfortable pads in my shoes.
So, the bottom line is that I now found myself on a boat in the Arctic with insecure footing. Don’t worry, I didn’t fall in! But I wasn’t happy about it, especially as I found I preferred to be outside as we navigated.
The Better Moments boat was a very nice boat. At the front of the boat was a row of four seats, in airplane style. Two banks of bench seats faced the sides in the back of the boat. I believe the boat fit about 12 people. It was enclosed and warm and as comfortable as advertised. It also included the peace of mind of a WC! The rear of the boat had a door to an open deck, and it was easy to stand there and hang onto the handrails, feel the wind in your face, and see all around.
I’ve stood in a fast-moving open safari vehicle in the Serengeti, my head and shoulders through the roof, with the wind in my face, my head swiveling from side to side to catch glimpses of the animals, my legs trying to absorb the impact of the vehicle on the ruts in the road, my hands hanging onto the edge of the roof to keep me upright. Better Moments was a fast power-boat. Once again, I hung on for dear life to the rails, the cold wind in my face, my head swiveling from side to side, trying to keep my feet as we crashed over the waves, looking for whales. It was as tremendous as being in the Serengeti.
People generally moved around a lot, so that the coveted front seats were not permanently occupied. The front seats didn’t allow good photography, while the rear open deck area was excellent.
We saw a large pod of Beluga whales, but didn’t stop for long. We headed directly to Ymerbukta, an arm of the fjord in front of Esmarkbreen, shown in yellow below. (I had to check a topograpical map by the Norwegian Polar Institute just now to find the names of the locations.)
The owner cut the engine and announced to us that a polar bear had been seen on the Esmarksbreen earlier in the day, and that we would start from the left, from almost the end of that peninsula, and work our way towards the glacier. We slowly glided along. Greg and I had not brought my grandmother’s binoculars on this trip. I can’t say why not, and it was a foolish decision. I had my zoom camera and hoped for the best. Several of the guests had binoculars and everyone strained their eyes to see a spot of white on the barren, grey hillside.
Amazingly, it wasn’t but five minutes into our search that someone cried “I see him!” The boat stopped and we all scrambled out. It took a little effort to see the bear, but we found him sitting on a large patch of snow on the hillside. I really can’t say how far away we were, but rather far. My picture, fully extended to the range of my optical zoom (12x) showed a clear white dot. When I zoomed with digital I now have a somewhat fuzzy picture of My Polar Bear. I’ve named him Bjorn, naturally.
We watched my bear stand up and begin to wander around the rocks, and lost him from sight for a brief moment. Then he climbed higher, and laid down once again. Finally, our captain decided to move on, to see if there were other other animals of interest at the glacier itself. We zoomed over to the glacier, saw a bearded seal at rest on a small iceberg. We turned around and saw several boats steaming toward our location – a tourist boat, and of all things, the Greenpeace ship. Our captain had radioed in our location and our find, and every boat that was out that night was on its way. We zoomed back to our original location, to show the boats where he was.
I hung onto the rail, the wind blasting me in the face, feeling as if I were on a speeding motorcycle on a rough road. We zoomed in and around the other boats, our captain gesticulating.
The bear lay there, his head down, ignoring the boats in the bay.
We alone had the moments when his head was up, interested in us, walking around the hillside.
Finally, we left the location, and headed back to Longyearbyen. When we finally arrived back at the Radisson Blu hotel, I felt like calling out for everyone to hear, “We saw a polar bear! We saw a polar bear.” It was about midnight, and no one was around. The hotel clerk was on the phone with someone else and just silently handed our room key over to us.
I downloaded our pictures to our PC, and danced around the hotel room.
On two subsequent days, once with Better Moments, and the other with Spitzbergen Express, we searched for Bjorn (bear), and never found him again.
It was such a special night.
Diabetic Travel Tips
The “dinner” served by Better Moments was a thermos of rich soup, with bread. It was warm and filling. The first night out the soup was a traditional creamy fish stew and I loved it. The second time we went out with Better Moments, it was a spicy, perhaps curry, soup which I did not enjoy, especially since I had been looking forward to more fish stew. But I had to eat it. Definitely bring your granola bars.
